Daily Market Update

by |
09 Jul 2014

Local housing data shows little cooling
While we await next week’s report from the Canadian Real Estate Board for a broad picture of the market, some local boards have already released data that shows little sign of a cooling market. With high prices, low mortgage rates and consumer confidence creeping up, the markets have been red hot after the winter freeze. In Montreal there has been an uptick in June of between 2 per cent for single-family homes and 8 per cent for condos. On the Island of Montreal were up 10 per cent. Overall, Montreal sales increased 3 per cent from last year. In Toronto the year-over-year rise has been 15.8 per cent, with prices up 7.4 per cent and the average home selling in just 22 days. Vancouver has seen a yearly increase of 28.9 per cent; June’s figures beat the 10 year average after a 3.7 per cent rise from May. Calgary’s year-over-year growth in sales has been 15.78 per cent with its 10 year average beaten by 18 per cent. Ottawa (4.3 per cent) and Edmonton (3.5 per cent) saw more modest growth; while Regina has seen a 9 per cent drop in sales from this time last year. Read the full story.

Canadians still keen purchasers of US real estate
As cottage property sales have shown, many Canadians are choosing to buy a second home here rather than across the border but we are still the biggest foreign buyers of US property. Figures for April-May released yesterday by the National Association of Realtors in Washington show that Canadians accounted for 19 per cent of foreign homebuyers; down from 23 per cent last year; while the Chinese spent the most money. While investment from China is focused on expensive real estate in California and New York, Canadians put their money into the popular winter escapes of Florida and Arizona. Read the full story.

Calgary penthouse is most expensive ever sold
A penthouse in the Eau Claire district of Calgary has sold for $4.4 million, making it the city’s most expensive MLS condo sale ever. The 3,200 square foot home; which has an outdoor terrace almost as big; was originally listed for over $5 million and is in the Princeton Hall building, which boasts concierge service, secure parking, and a temperature controlled wine cellar. Read the full story.

Small home, no mortgage – the future?
A former real estate assessor has been showing off his dream home in Rhode Island. He’s got cherry-wood floors, cathedral ceilings and stained-glass windows; the only thing he doesn’t have, is space. Doug Immel’s home measures just 164 square feet, and cost a mere US$28,000; a seventh of the typical home price in the state. The draw for Immel was being able to have a great home and no mortgage. He says he wants to be free of the burden of career ‘vagaries’ and is choosing to invest the money he would have spent on home loan payments in a mutual fund and cut his retirement age in the process. It’s part of a growing trend among young professionals and the ‘empty nesters’ who find that their modest housing needs give them additional money for other things. Read the full story.